


mười

by ongreenergrasses



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: 10 x 100, Drabble Collection, Female Friendship, Fluff, Found Family, Gen, Multi, Nonbinary Andy | Andromache of Scythia, Slice of Life, don't worry i'll return to the angst soon lads, i'm old school i'm resurrecting the form with this one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-30
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-16 02:08:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29074575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ongreenergrasses/pseuds/ongreenergrasses
Summary: Quýnh comes home. Here are ten moments that follow.
Relationships: Andy | Andromache of Scythia/Quynh | Noriko, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 50





	mười

**Author's Note:**

> have i already written about quýnh returning to the team? yes. am i gonna do it again, in a way that is not in the least compatible with what i wrote before? also yes. enjoy!

_i._  
Nile wakes with a jolt, which is odd. She’s used to all the various nightmares by now. (She hasn’t been dreaming of Quýnh recently and she doesn’t want to think about why.) The noise that woke her is coming from the kitchen - Andy, a clearly agitated Nicky, and - someone else?  
Nile nearly trips over yesterday’s jeans on the floor as she tears out to investigate, gun in hand. An unfamiliar voice means trouble these days.  
“Nile!” the woman sitting at the table says, smiling brightly. Andy is crying. Nile immediately understands. “It’s so wonderful to finally meet you!”

_ii._  
Quýnh wants to know everything. She reads every book they have in the safe house, gets a library card, and then turns to the internet. Quýnh’s favorite website is Wikipedia, her second favorite is Khan Academy. The day she discovers Instagram is the first time she and Andy get in a fight.  
“But my love, look at how fun the fashion photography is, why can’t I just - ”  
“It’s not safe to have your face on the internet, my love. People will track us.”  
Quýnh is definitely pouting. Andy goes outside with their labrys and hacks at the bushes.

_iii._  
Nile doesn’t mean to insert herself into their fight, not really. She does show Quýnh how to make a private Instagram, and then Joe shows Quýnh his favorite online stores, and then Nicky gets inspired and sets up an impromptu photo shoot.  
“It is a private account,” Quýnh says smugly, showing Andy the final Instagram post. It is admittedly very high fashion. “Only my friends can see these pictures.”  
“How do you have 3000 followers already,” Joe says, snatching the iPad away from her. “You’ve been out of the ocean for two weeks.”  
“I make friends quickly,” Quýnh says serenely.

_iv._  
“I made reservations for tomorrow,” Joe says. Nicky absently kisses his temple in response. “I think you’ll like it, Quýnh. We have to dress nicely.”  
Quýnh’s eyes are sparkling. Andy groans.  
It’s clearly a double date with Nile along for the ride. Joe and Nicky disappear to the bathroom for half an hour (to be fair, Nicky’s suit was quite tight). Andy grumbles and tugs at their shirt collar until Quýnh lays a hand over theirs and kisses them deeply. Andy is blushing when they break apart. Nile takes advantage of everyone’s distractions to sample all of their respective dishes.

_v._  
They’re woken in the middle of the night by an anguished scream. Nile and the guys tumble into the hallway and nearly kick down the bedroom door.  
Somehow, Andy has not told Quýnh about their newfound mortality until now. Quýnh is sobbing wretchedly on their bed. “It’s not fair,” she cries, “we have suffered so much, it’s not fair.” She tears her clothes, tries to tear at her hair, scratches Andy when they try to stop her. “Why would we be torn apart now after everything, after I came back for you?”  
“I don’t know! I don’t know, my love.”

_vi._  
“No.”  
“My love, look how handsome he is. Look how stoic.”  
“Nope.”  
“He is clearly a warrior,” Nicky says solemnly.  
“Okay,” Nile says blankly. “Are we - ”  
“No,” Andy says again. “We’re taking that thing to the vet tomorrow.”  
“He’s purring. He enjoys our company.”  
“I’m pretty sure that thing’s rabid,” Joe says from across the room.  
“All the more reason for us to keep him!” Quýnh refutes. “We are the only suitable caretakers for such a wonderful creature.” The said wonderful creature is a skeletal cat missing one eye and drooling profusely.  
(Joe was right about the rabies.)

_vii._  
They all go to Vietnam. They eat mangos every day and Nile learns to swim. One day she leaves for an early run and nearly trips over Quýnh, who’s lying flat on her back on the ground.  
“What’s up?” Nile settles in next to her.  
“While I was under the sea,” Quýnh finally says, “I wondered if the world would miss me. I knew Andromache would, and Yusuf and Nicolò. But the world...I didn’t know.”  
The trees rustle in the breeze.  
“Here, though, I know the earth, the soil, missed me. I am finally – I am present. I am home.”

_viii._  
Nile soon learns there is even more to Quýnh. She learns this when Quýnh goes to interrogate someone and comes out of the room leaving bloody footprints. She learns this when Quýnh clears a warehouse in under a minute. She learns this when Quýnh carefully bandages a cut on a child’s hand, when Quýnh holds a sobbing woman in her arms for an hour.  
“I think I understand why you fell for her,” Nile says to Andy.   
Andy shrugs. “I loved her from the moment I met her. How could there be anyone else for me when she’s like that?”

_ix._  
Quýnh screams when she’s excited. Andy always comes running. Nile and Joe are laughing on the couch when Andy bursts through the front door, panting.  
“My love, is everything - ”  
Quýnh slides off her chair onto one knee in front of Andy, holds up a ring she borrowed from Joe. “Andromache, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”  
Andy falls to their knees so hard Nile worries for their mortal kneecaps.  
Quýnh gets a slim silver ring for herself and buys Andy a diamond. “Impractical,” Andy mutters, flexing their fingers.  
They never take the ring off.

_x._  
Nile wants to add some millennial bullshit to Quýnh’s education in modernity, so they get high and watch Moulin Rouge. They have popcorn and paint each other’s nails. Quýnh is enthralled and Nile cries at the end.  
“Love is wonderful,” Quýnh sighs to the ceiling.  
“Eh,” Nile says. She’s too high for a real conversation.  
“You are good for the team,” Quýnh says. “They love you so much.”  
“I love them too,” Nile says, and feels how she means it in her chest. “I’m glad you’re back.”   
Quýnh takes her hand and squeezes once, twice.  
“I am too,” she says.

**Author's Note:**

> big bang is showing up on february 2, and has absolutely no relation to this fic aside from like. being in the same fandom. but i figured i would plug it in case you, my dear reader, are interested!
> 
> as always in my fic, andy uses they/them, and also as always, if you find any errors, no matter what size, and decide to use some of your precious emotional time and energy to correct me, i will be a) honored and humbled that you have chosen to do so and b) make the appropriate revisions as quickly as possible.


End file.
